The challenge of producing fusion power is hugely complex. Many alternative devices apart from tokamaks have been proposed, though none have yet produced any results comparable with the best tokamaks currently operating such as JET.
World fusion research has entered a new phase after the beginning of the construction of ITER, the largest and most expensive (c15bn Euros) tokamak ever built. The successful route to a commercial fusion reactor demands long pulse, stable operation combined with the high efficiency required to make electricity production economic. These three conditions are especially difficult to achieve simultaneously, and the planned programme will require many years of experimental research on ITER and other fusion facilities, as well as theoretical and technological research. It is widely anticipated that a commercial fusion reactor developed through this route will not be built before 2050.
To obtain the fusion reactions required for economic power generation (i.e. much more power out than power in), the conventional tokamak has to be huge (as exemplified by ITER) so that the energy confinement time (which is roughly proportional to plasma volume) can be large enough so that the plasma can be hot enough for thermal fusion to occur.